AN  INQUIRY 


INTO 


THE  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS 


THE  ABORIGINAL  RACE 


AMERICA. 


SAMUEL  GEORGE  MORTON,  M.  D., 

Author  of  Crania  Americana,  Crania  iEgyptiaca,  &c. 


t 


SECOND  EDITION 


PHILADELPHIA: 
J  OHN  PENIN  GTON, 
Chestnut  street. 
1844. 


£x  iCtbrtfl 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


NOTE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION. 


The  following  Essay  was  read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Boston  Society 
of  Natural  History,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1842,  and  published  by  direction  of 
the  Society.  In  the  present  edition  I  have  made  a  few  verbal  corrections,  and 
added  some  collateral  facts  in  an  Appendix. 

I  have  taken  a^jrapid  glance  at  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  peculiar  traits  of  the 
Aboriginal  race  of  America,  as  embraced  in  five  principal  considerations,  viz.  : 
their  organic,  moral,  and  intellectual  characters,  their  mode  of  interment,  and 
their  maratime  enterprise;  and  from  these  I  have  ventured  to  draw  a  few  defi- 
nite conclusions.  I  am  aware  that  it  may  appear  presumptuous  to  attempt  so 
wide  a  range  within  the  brief  limits  of  the  present  occasion,  especially  as  some 
points  can  be  touched  only  in  the  most  general  manner;  but  my  object  has 
been  to  dwell  rather  upon  some  of  these  which  have  hitherto  received  less  at- 
tention than  they  obviously  deserve,  and  which  are  intimately  involv^hki  tLe 
present  inquiry.  ^0 

Philadelphia,  July  1,  1844. 


S.  G.  MORTON. 


Mt'i'rihew  &.  Thompson,  Printeri,  7  Caiter'i  Alley. 


ON  THE 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 

Ethnography, — the  analysis  and  classification  of  the  races 
of  men,* — is^essentially  a  modern  science.  At  a  time  when 
Nature  in  her  other  departments,  had  been  investigated 
with  equal  zeal  and  success,  this  alone  remained  compara- 
tively neglected ;  and  of  the  various  authors  who  have  at- 
tempted its  exposition  during  the  past  and  present  centuries, 
too  many  have  been  content  with  closet  theories,  in  which 
facts  are  perverted  to  sustain  some  baseless  conjecture. 
Hence  it  has  been  aptly  remarked  that  Asia  is  the  country  of 
fables,  Africa  of  monsters,  and  America  of  systems,  to  those 
who  prefer  hypothesis  to  truth. 

The  intellectual  genius  of  antiquity  justly  excites  our  ad- 
miration and  homage ;  but  in  vain  we  search  its  records  for 
the  physical  traits  of  some  of  the  most  celebrated  nations  of 
past  tftne.  It  is  even  yet  gravely  disputed  whether  the  an- 
cient Egyptians  belonged  to  the  Caucasian  race  or  to  the  Ne- 
gro ;  and  was  it  not  for  the  light  which  now  dawns  upon  us 
from  their  monuments  and  their  tombs,  this  question  might 
remain  forever  undecided.  The  present  age,  however,  is 
marked  by  a  noble  zeal  for  these  inquiries,  which  are  daily 
making  man  more  conversant  with  the  organic  structure,  the 
mental  character  and  the  national  affinities  of  the  various  and 
widely  scattered  tribes  of  the  human  family. 

Among  these  the  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  America  claim 
our  especial  attention.  This  vast  theatre  has  been  thronged, 
from  immemorial  time,  by  numberless  tribes  which  lived  only 
to  destroy  and  be  in  turn  destroyed,  without  leaving  a  trace 

*  Ethnography  may  be  divided  into  three  branches — I.  Physical  or  Organic 
Ethnography  ;  2.  Philological  Ethnography  ;  and  3.  Historical  Ethnography. 


4 


DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 


of  their  sojourn  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Contrasted  with 
these  were  a  few  civilized  communities,  whose  monuments 
awaken  our  surprise  without  unfolding  their  history;  and  he 
who  would  unravel  their  mysteries  may  be  compared,  in  the 
language  of  the  poets,  to  a  man  standing  by  the  stream  of 
time,  and  striving  to  rescue  from  its  waters  the  wrecked  and 
shattered  fragments  which  float  onward  to  oblivion. 

It  is  not  my  present  intention  even  to  enumerate  the  many 
theories  which  have  been  advanced  in  reference  to  the  origin 
of  the  American  nations ;  although  I  may,  in  the  sequel,  in- 
quire whether  their  genealogy  can  be  traced  to  the  Polyne- 
sians or  Mongolians,  Hindoos,  Jews  or  Egyptians.  Nor  shall 
I  attempt  to  analyse  the  views  of  certain  philosophers  who 
imagine  that  they  have  found  not  only  a  variety  of  races,  but 
several  species  of  men  among  the  aborigines  of  this  continent. 
It  is  chiefly  my  intention  to  produce  a  few  of  the  more  strik- 
ingly characteristic  traits  of  these  people  to  sustain  the  po- 
sition that  all  the  American  nations,  excepting  the  Eskimaux, 
are  of  one  race,  and  that  this  race  is  peculiar,  and  distinct 
from  all  others. 

1.  Physical  Characteristics.  It  is  an  adage  among  travel- 
lers that  he  who  has  seen  one  tribe  of  Indians,  has  se^n  all, 
so  much  do  the  individuals  of  this  race  resemble  each  other, 
notwithstanding  their  immense  geographical  distribution,  and 
those  differences  of  climate  which  embrace  the  extremes  of 
heat  and  cold.    The  half-clad  Fuegian,  shrinking  from  his 
dreary  winter,  has  the  same  characteristic  lineaments,  though 
in  an  exaggerated  degree,  as  the  Indians  of  the  tropical  plains; 
and  these  again  resemble  the  tribes  which  inhabit  the  region 
west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  those  of  the  great  valley  of  the 
Mississippi,  and  those  again  which  skirt  the  Eskimaux  on 
the  North.    All  possess  alike  the  long,  lank,  black  hair,  the 
brown  or  cinnamon  colored  skin,  the  heavy  brow,  the  dull 
and  sleepy  eye,  the  full  and  compressed  lips,  and  the  salient 
but  dilated  nose.    These  traits,  moreover,  are  equally  com- 
mon to  the  savage  and  civilized  nations ;  whether  they  in- 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


5 


habit  the  margins  of  rivers  and  feed  on  fish,  or  rove  the  forest 
and  subsist  on  the  spoils  of  the  chase. 

It  cannot  be  questioned  that  physical  diversities  do  occur, 
equally  singular  and  inexplicable,  as  seen  in  different  shades 
of  color,  varying  from  a  fair  tint  to  a  complexion  almost 
black ;  and  this  too  under  circumstances  in  which  climate 
can  have  little  or  no  influence.  So  also  in  reference  to 
stature,  the  differences  are  remarkable  in  entire  tribes  which, 
moreover,  are  geographically  proximate  to  each  other.  These 
facts,  however,  are  mere  exceptions  to  a  general  rule,  and  do 
not  alter  the  peculiar  physiognomy  of  the  Indian,  which  is  as 
undeviatingly  characteristic  as  that  of  the  Negro ;  for  whe- 
ther we  see  him  in  the  athletic  Charib  or  the  stunted  Chayma, 
in  the  dark  Californian  or  the  fair  Borroa,  he  is  an  Indian  still, 
and  cannot  be  mistaken  for  a  being  of  any  other  race. 

The  same  conformity  of  organization  is  not  less  obvious  in 
the  osteological  structure  of  these  people,  as  seen  in  the 
squared  or  rounded  head,  the  flattened  or  vertical  occiput,  the 
high  cheek  bones,  the  ponderous  maxillae,  the  large  quadran- 
gular orbits,  and  the  low,  receding  forehead.  I  have  had  op- 
portunity to  compare  nearly  four  hundred  crania,  derived 
from  tribes  inhabiting  almost  every  region  of  both  Americas, 
and  have  been  astonished  to  find  how  the  preceding  charac- 
ters, in  greater  or  less  degree,  pervade  them  all. 

This  remark  is  equally  applicable  to  the  ancient  and  mo- 
dern nations  of  our  continent ;  for  the  oldest  skulls  from  the 
Peruvian  cemeteries,  the  tombs  of  Mexico  and  the  mounds  of 
our  own  country,  are  of  the  same  type  as  the  heads  of  the 
most  savage  existing  tribes.*  Their  physical  organization 
proves  the  origin  of  one  to  have  been  equally  the  origin  of 
all.  The  various  civilized  nations  are  to  this  day  represented 
by  their  lineal  descendants  who  inhabit  their  ancestral  seats, 
and  differ  in  no  exterior  respect  from  the  wild  and  unculti- 
vated Indians  ;  at  the  same  time,  in  evidence  of  their  lineage, 
Clavigero  and  other  historians  inform  us,  that  the  Mexicans 
and  Peruvians  yet  possess  a  latent  mental  superiority  which 


♦See  Appendix,  No.  1. — Crania  Americana, passim. 


6  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

has  not  been  subdued  by  three  centuries  of  despotism.  And 
again,  with  respect  to  the  royal  personages  and  other  privi- 
leged classes,  there  is  indubitable  evidence  that  they  were  of 
the  same  native  stock,  and  presented  no  distinctive  attributes 
excepting  those  of  a  social  or  political  character. 

The  observations  of  Molina  and  Humboldt  are  sometimes 
quoted  in  disproof  of  this  pervading  uniformity  of  physical 
characters.  Molina  says  that  the  difference  between  an  in- 
habitant of  Chili  and  a  Peruvian  is  not  less  than  between  an 
Italian  and  a  German ;  to  which  Humboldt  adds,  that  the 
American  race  contains  nations  whose  features  differ  as  essen- 
tially from  one  another  as  those  of  the  Circassians,  Moors  and 
Persians.  But  all  these  people  are  of  one  and  the  same  race, 
and  readily  recognized  as  such,  notwithstanding  their  differ- 
ences of  feature  and  complexion;*  and  the  American  nations 
present  a  precisely  parallel  case. 

I  was  at  one  time  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  the  ancient 
Peruvians,  who  inhabited  the  islands  and  confines  of  the 
Lake  Titicaca,  presented  a  congenital  form  of  the  head  en- 
tirely different  from  that  which  characterizes  the  great  Ameri- 
can race;  nor  could  I  at  first  bring  myself  to  believe  that 
their  wonderfully  narrow  and  elongated  crania,  resulted  solely 
from  artificial  compression  applied  to  the  rounded  head  of  the 
Indian.  That  such,  however,  is  the  fact  has  been  indisputa- 
bly proved  by  the  recent  investigations  of  M.  D'Orbigny. 
This  distinguished  naturalist  passed  many  months  on  the 
able-land  of  the  Andes  which  embraces  the  region  of  these 
extraordinary  people,  and  examined  the  dessicated  remains 
of  hundreds  of  individuals  in  the  tombs  where  they  have  lain 
for  centuries.  M.  D'Orbigny  remarked  that  while  many  of 
the  heads  were  deformed  in  the  manner  to  which  we  have 
adverted,  others  differed  in  nothing  from  the  usual  conforma- 
tion. It  was  also  observed  that  the  flattened  skulls  were  uni- 
formly those  of  men,  while  those  of  the  women  remained 
unaltered ;  and  again,  that  the  most  elongated  heads  were 

*A  portion  of  the  Moorish  population  of  Africa  is  a  very  mixed  race  of 
Arabs,  Berbers,  Negroes,  &c. 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


7 


preserved  in  the  largest  and  finest  tombs,  shewing  that  this 
cranial  deformity  was  a  mark  of  distinction.  But  to  do  away 
with  any  remaining  doubt  on  this  subject,  M.  D'Orbigny  as- 
certained that  the  descendants  of  these  ancient  Peruvians  yet 
inhabit  the  land  of  their  ancestors,  and  bear  the  name  of 
Aymaras,  which  may  have  been  their  primitive  designation  ; 
and  lastly,  the  modern  Aymaras  resemble  the  common  Qui- 
chua  or  Peruvian  Indians  in  every  thing  that  relates  to  physi- 
cal conformation,  not  even  excepting  the  head,  which,  how- 
ever they  have  ceased  to  mould  artificially.* 

Submitted  to  the  same  anatomical  test,  the  reputed  giant 
and  dwarf  races  of  America  prove  to  be  the  mere  inventions 
of  ignorance  or  imposition.  A  careful  inspection  of  the  re- 
mains of  both,  has  fully  satisfied  me  that  the  asserted  gigantic 
form  of  some  nations  has  been  a  hasty  inference  on  the  part 
of  unpractised  observers;  while  the  so-called  pygmies  of  the 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  were  mere  children,  who,  for  reasons 
not  wholly  understood,  were  buried  apart  from  the  adult  peo- 
ple of  their  tribe,  t 

Thus  it  is  that  the  American  Indian,  from  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  the  continent  to  the  northern  limit  of  his  range,  is 
the  same  exterior  man.  With  somewhat  variable  stature  and 
complexion,  his  distinctive  features,  though  variously  modi- 
fied, are  never  effaced;  and  he  stands  isolated  from  the  rest 
of  mankind,  identified  at  a  glance  in  every  locality,  and  under 
every  variety  of  circumstance ;  and  even  his  dessicated  re- 
mains which  have  withstood  the  destroying  hand  of  time, 
preserve  the  primeval  type  of  his  race,  excepting  only  when 
art  has  interposed  to  pervert  it. 

2.  Moral  Traits.  These  are,  perhaps,  as  strongly  marked 
as  the  physical  characteristics  of  which  we  have  just  spoken; 
but  they  have  been  so  often  the  subject  of  analysis  as  to  claim 
only  a  passing  notice  on  the  present  occasion.  Among  the 
most  prominent  of  this  series  of  mental  operations  is  a  sleep- 
less caution,  an  untiring  vigilance,  which  presides  over  every 
action  and  masks  every  motive.  The  Indian  says  nothing  and 

*  See  Appendix,  No.  2.        f  See  Appendix,  No.  3. 


8  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

does  nothing  without  its  influence:  it  enables  him  to  deceive 
others  without  being  himself  suspected ;  it  causes  that  pro- 
verbial taciturnity  among  strangers  which  changes  to  garru- 
lity among  the  people  of  his  own  tribe  ;  and  it  is  the  basis  of 
that  invincible  firmness  which  teaches  him  to  contend  unre- 
piningly  with  every  adverse  circumstance,  and  even  with 
death  in  its  most  hideous  forms. 

The  love  of  war  is  so  general,  so  characteristic,  that  it 
scarcely  calls  for  a  comment  or  an  illustration.  One  nation  is 
in  almost  perpetual  hostility  with  another,  tribe  against  tribe, 
man  against  man ;  and  with  this  ruling  passion  are  linked  a 
merciless  revenge  and  an  unsparing  destructiveness.  The 
Chickasaws  have  been  known  to  make  a  stealthy  march  of 
six  hundred  miles  from  their  own  hunting  grounds,  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  destroying  an  encampment  of  their  enemies. 
The  small  island  of  Nantucket,  which  contains  but  a  few 
square  miles  of  barren  sand,  was  inhabited  at  the  advent  of 
the  European  colonies  by  two  Indian  tribes,  who  sometimes 
engaged  in  hot  and  deadly  feud  with  each  other.  But  what 
is  yet  more  remarkable,  the  miserable  natives  of  Terra  del 
Fuego,  whose  common  privations  have  linked  them  for  a  time 
in  peace  and  fellowship,  become  suddenly  excited  by  the 
same  inherent  ferocity,  and  exert  their  puny  efforts  for  mutual 
destruction.  Of  the  destructive  propensity  of  the  Indian,  which 
has  long  become  a  proverb,  it  is  almost  unnecessary  to  speak ; 
but  we  may  advert  to  a  forcible  example  from  the  narrative 
of  the  traveller  Hearne,  who  accompanied  a  trading  party  of 
northern  Indians  on  a  long  journey ;  during  which  he  declares 
that  they  killed  every  living  creature  that  came  within  their 
reach;  nor  could  they  even  pass  a  bird's  nest  without  slaying 
the  young  or  destroying  the  eggs. 

That  philosophic  traveller,  Dr.  Von  Martius,  gives  a  graphic 
view  of  the  present  state  of  natural  and  civil  rights  among 
the  Ameri<  n  aborigines.  Their  sub-division,  he  remarks, 
into  an  ah.  >st  countless  multitude  of  greater  and  smaller 
groups,  and  their  entire  exclusion  and  excommunication  with 
regard  to  eacit  other,  strike  the  eye  of  the  observer  like  the 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OP  AMERICA.  9 

fragments  of  a  vast  ruin,  to  which  the  history  of  the  other 
nations  of  the  earth  furnishes  no  analogy.  "  This  disruption 
of  all  the  bands  by  which  society  was  anciently  held  together, 
accompanied  by  a  Babylonish  confusion  of  tongues,  the  rude 
right  of  force,  the  never  ending  tacit  warfare  of  all  against 
all,  springing  from  that  very  disrupture, — appear  to  me  the 
most  essential,  and,  as  far  as  history  is  concerned,  the  most 
significant  points  in  the  civil  condition  of  the  aboriginal 
population  of  America." 

It  may  be  said  that  these  features  of  the  Indian  character 
are  common  to  all  mankind  in  the  savage  state.  This  is  gene- 
rally true;  but  in  the  American  race  they  exist  in  a  degree 
which  will  fairly  challenge  a  comparison  with  similar  traits 
in  any  existing  people;  and  if  we  consider  also  their  habitual 
indolence  and  improvidence,  their  indifference  to  private  pro- 
perty, and  the  vague  simplicity  of  their  religious  observances, — 
which,  for  the  most  part,  are  devoid  of  the  specious  aid  of 
idolatry, — we  must  admit  them  to  possess  a  peculiar  and  ec- 
centric moral  constitution. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  demi-civilized  nations,  we  find  the 
dawn  of  refinement  coupled  with  those  barbarous  usages 
which  characterize  the  Indian  in  his  savage  slate.  We  see 
the  Mexicans,  like  the  later  Romans,  encouraging  the  most 
bloody  and  cruel  rites,  and  these,  too,  in  the  name  of  religion, 
in  order  to  inculcate  hatred  of  their  enemies,  familiarity  with 
danger,  and  contempt  of  death;  and  the  moral  effect  of  this 
system  is  manifest  in  their  valorous,  though  unsuccessful,  re- 
sistance to  their  Spanish  conquerors. 

Among  the  Peruvians,  however,  the  case  was  different. 
The  inhabitants  had  been  subjugated  to  the  Incas  by  a  com- 
bined moral  and  physical  influence.  The  Inca  family  were 
looked  upon  as  beings  of  divine  origin.  They  assumed  to  be 
the  messengers  of  heaven,  bearing  rewards  for  the  good,  and 
punishment  for  the  disobedient,  conjoined  with  the  arts  of 
peace  and  various  social  institutions.  History  bears  ample  tes- 
timony that  these  specious  pretences  were  employed  first  to 
captivate  the  fancy  and  then  to  enslave  the  man.  The  fami- 


10  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

liar  adage  that  "knowledge  is  power,"  was  as  well  understood 
by  them  as  by  us ;  learning  was  artfully  restricted  to  a  privi- 
leged class ;  and  the  genius  of  the  few  soon  controlled  the 
energies  of  the  many.  Thus  the  policy  of  the  Incas  incul- 
cated in  their  subjects  an  abject  obedience  which  knew  no 
limit.  They  endeavored  to  eradicate  the  feeling  of  individ- 
uality ;  or,  in  other  words,  to  unite  the  minds  of  the  plebeian 
multitude  in  a  common  will,  which  was  that  of  their  master. 
Thus  when  Pizarro  made  his  first  attack  on  the  defenceless 
Peruvians  in  the  presence  of  their  Inca,  the  latter  was  borne 
in  a  throne  on  the  shoulders  of  four  men  ;  and  we  are  told  by 
Herrera  that  while  the  Spaniards  spared  the  Sovereign,  they 
aimed  their  deadly  blows  at  his  bearers,  who,  however, 
never  shrunk  from  their  sacred  trust ;  for  when  one  of  their 
number  fell,  another  immediately  took  his  place;  and  the  his- 
torian declares  that  if  the  whole  day  had  been  spent  in  kill- 
ing them,  others  would  still  have  came  forward  to  the  passive 
support  of  their  master.  In  fact,  what  has  been  called  the 
paternal  government  of  the  Incas  was  strictly  such  ;  for  their 
subjects  were  children,  who  neither  thought  nor  acted  except 
at  the  dictation  of  another.  Thus  it  was  that  a  people  whose 
moral  impulses  are  known  to  have  differed  in  little  or  nothing 
from  those  of  the  barbarous  tribes,  were  reduced,  partly  by 
persuasion,  partly  by  force,  to  a  state  of  effeminate  vassalage 
not  unlike  that  of  the  modem  Hindoos.  Like  the  latter,  too, 
they  made  good  soldiers  in  their  native  wars,  not  from  any 
principle  of  valor,  but  from  the  sentiment  of  passive  obedience 
to  their  superiors  ;  and  hence,  when  they  saw  their  monarch 
bound  and  imprisoned  by  the  Spaniards,  their  conventional 
courage  at  once  forsook  them  ;  and  we  behold  the  singular 
spectacle  of  an  entire  nation  prostrated  at  a  blow,  like  a  strong 
man  whose  energies  yield  to  a  seemingly  trivial  but  rankling 
wound. 

After  the  Inca  power  was  destroyed,  however,  the  dormant 
spirit  of  the  people  was  again  aroused  in  all  the  moral  vehe- 
mence of  their  race,  and  the  gentle  and  unoffending  Peruvian 
became  transformed  into  the  wily  and  merciless  savage.  Every 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


one  is  familiar  with  the  sequel.  Resistance  was  too  late  to 
be  availing,  and  the  fetters  to  which  they  had  confidingly 
submitted  were  soon  riveted  forever. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  Incas  depressed  the 
moral  energies  of  their  subjects  in  order  to  secure  their  own 
power.  This  they  effected  by  inculcating  the  arts  of  peace, 
prohibiting  human  sacrifices,  and  in  a  great  measure  avoiding 
capital  punishments;  and  blood  was  seldom  spilt  excepting 
on  the  subjugation  of  warlike  and  refractory  tribes.  In  these 
instances,  however,  the  native  ferocity  of  their  race  broke 
forth  even  in  the  bosom  of  the  Incas ;  for  we  are  told  by 
Garcilaso,  the  descendant  and  apologist  of  the  Peruvian  kings, 
that  some  of  their  wars  were  absolutely  exterminating;  and 
among  other  examples  he  mentions  that  of  the  Inca  Yupanqui 
against  the  province  of  Collao,  in  which  whole  districts  were 
so  completely  depopulated  that  they  had  subsequently  to 
be  colonized  from  other  parts  of  the  empire:  and  in  another 
instance  the  same  unsparing  despot  destroyed  twenty  thou- 
sand Caranques,  whose  bodies  he  ordered  to  be  thrown  into  an 
adjacent  lake,  which  yet  bears  the  name  of  the  Sea  of  Blood. 
In  like  manner,  when  Atahnalpa  contested  the  dominion  with 
Guascar,  he  caused  the  latter,  together  with  thirty  of  his 
brothers,  to  be  put  to  death  in  cold  blood,  that  nothing  might 
impede  his  progress  to  the  throne. 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  shew  that  the  same  moral 
traits  characterize  all  the  aboriginal  nations  of  this  continent, 
from  the  humanized  Peruvian  to  the  rudest  savage  of  the 
Brazilian  forest. 

3.  Intellectual  Faculties.  It  has  often  been  remarked  that 
the  intellectual  faculties  are  distributed  with  surprising  equal- 
ity among  individuals  of  the  same  race  who  have  been  simi- 
larly educated,  and  subjected  to  the  same  moral  and  other  in- 
fluences: yet  even  among  these,  as  in  the  physical  man,  we 
see  the  strong  and  the  weak,  with  numberless  intermediate 
gradations.  This  equality  is  infinitely  more  obvious  in  sa- 
vage than  in  civilized  comrnunities,jsimply  because  in  th 


12  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 


former  the  condition  of  life  is  more  equal ;  whence  it  hap- 
pens that  in  contrast  to  a  single  master  mind,  the  plebeian 
multitude  are  content  to  live  and  die  in  their  primitive  igno- 
rance and  inferiority. 

This  truth  is  obvious  at  every  step  of  the  present  investi- 
gation ;  for  of  the  numberless  hordes  which  have  inhabited 
the  American  continent,  a  fractional  portion  only  has  left  any 
trace  of  refinement.  I  venture  here  to  repeat  my  matured 
conviction  that  as  a  race  they  are  decidedly  inferior  to  the 
Mongolian  stock.  They  are  not  only  averse  to  the  restraints 
of  education,  but  seem  for  the  most  part  incapable  of  a  con- 
tinued process  of  reasoning  on  abstract  subjects.  Their  minds 
seize  with  avidity  on  simple  truths,  while  they  reject  what- 
ever requires  investigation  or  analysis.  Their  proximity  for 
more  than  two  centuries  to  European  communities,  has 
scarcely  effected  an  appreciable  change  in  their  manner  of 
life ;  and  as  to  their  social  condition,  they  are  probably  in 
most  respects  the  same  as  at  the  primitive  epoch  of  their  ex- 
istence. They  have  made  no  improvement  in  the  construc- 
tion of  their  dwellings,  except  when  directed  by  Europeans 
who  have  become  domiciliated  among  them  ;  for  the  Indian 
cabin  or  the  Indian  tent,  from  Terra  del  Fuego  to  the  river 
St.  Lawrence,  is  perhaps  the  humblest  contrivance  ever  de- 
vised by  man  to  screen  himself  from  the  elements.  Nor  is 
their  mechanical  ingenuity  more  conspicuous  in  the  construc- 
tion of  their  boats;  for  these,  as  we  shall  endeavor  to  show  in 
the  sequel,  have  rarely  been  improved  beyond  the  first  rude 
conception.  Their  imitative  faculty  is  of  a  very  humble 
grade,  nor  have  they  any  predilection  for  the  arts  or  sciences. 
The  long  annals  of  missionary  labor  and  private  benefaction, 
present  few  exceptions  to  this  cheerless  picture,  which  is 
sustained  by  the  testimony  of  nearly  all  practical  observers. 
Even  in  those  instances  in  which  the  Indians  have  received 
the  benefits  of  education,  and  remained  for  years  in  civilized 
society,  they  lose  little  or  none  of  the  innate  love  of  their  na- 
tional usages,  which  they  almost  invariably  resume  when  left 
to  choose  for  themselves.* 

*  Crania  Americana,  p.  81. 


ABORIGINAL  RACE   OF  AMERICA. 


13 


Such  is  the  intellectual  poverty  of  the  barbarous  tribes ; 
but  contrasted  with  these,  like  an  oasis  in  the  desert,  are  the 
demi-civilized  nations  of  the  new  world  ;  a  people  whose  at- 
tainments in  the  arts  and  sciences  are  a  riddle  in  the  history  of 
the  human  mind.  The  Peruvians  in  the  south,  the  Mexicans 
in  the  north,  and  the  Muyscas  of  Bogota  between  the  two, 
formed  these  contemporary  'centres  of  civilization,  each  in- 
dependent of  the  other,  and  each  equally  skirted  by  wild  and 
savage  hordes.  The  mind  dwells  with  surprise  and  admira- 
tion on  their  cyclopean  structures,  which  often  rival  those  of 
Egypt  in  magnitude; — on  their  temples,  which  embrace  almost 
every  principle  in  architecture  except  the  arch  alone ; — and 
on  their  statues  and  bas-reliefs  which,  notwithstanding  some 
conventional  imperfections,  are  far  above  the  rudimentary 
state  of  the  arts.* 

I  have  elsewhere  ventured  to  designate  these  demi-civilized 
nations  by  the  collective  name  of  the  Toltecan  Family  ;  for 
although  the  Mexican  annals  date  their  civilization  from  a 
period  long  antecedent  to  the  appparance  of  the  Toltecas,  yet 
the  latter  seem  to  have  cultivated  the  arts  and  sciences  to  a 
degree  unknown  to  their  predecessors.  Besides,  the  various 
nations  which  at  different  times  invaded  and  possessed  them- 
selves of  Mexico,  were  characterized  by  the  same  fundamen- 
tal language  and  the  same  physical  traits,  together  with  a 
strong  analogy  in  their  social  institutions:  and  as  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Incas  in  Peru  was  nearly  simultaneous  with  the 
dispersion  of  the  Toltecas,  in  the  year  1050  of  our  era,  there 
is  reasonable  ground  for  the  conjecture  that  the  Mexcans  and 
Peruvians  were  branches  of  the  same   Toltecan  stock 

*I  cannot  omit  the  present  occasion  to  express  my  admiration  of  the  recent  dis- 
coveries of  Mr.  Stephens  among  the  ruined  cities  of  Central  America  and  Yuca- 
tan. The  spirit,  ability,  and  success  which  characterize  these  investigations,  are 
an  honor  to  that  gentleman  and  to  his  country  ;  and  they  will  probably  tend  more 
than  the  labors  of  any  other  person  to  unravel  the  mysteries  of  American  Archae- 
ology. Similar  in  design  to  these  are  the  researches  of  my  distinguished  friend 
the  Chevalier  Freidrichthal,  the  result  of  whose  labors,  though  not  yet  give 
to  the  world,  are  "replete  with  facts  of  the  utmost  importance  to  the  presen 
inquiry. 

2 


14  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 


We  have  alluded  to  a  civilization  antecedent  to  the  appearance 
of  the  Incas,  and  which  had  already  passed  away  when  they 
assumed  the  government  of  the  country.  There  are  tradi- 
tional and  monumental  evidences  of  this  fact  which  can  leave 
no  doubt  on  the  mind,  although  of  its  date  we  can  form  no 
just  conception.  It  may  have  even  preceded  the  Christian 
era,  nor  do  we  know  of  any  positive  reasons  to  the  contrary. 
Chronology  may  be  called  the  crutch  of  history  ;  but  with  all 
its  imperfections  it  would  be  invaluable  here,  where  no  clue 
remains  to  unravel  those  mysterious  records  which  excite  our 
research  but  constantly  elude  our  scrutiny.  We  may  be  per- 
mitted, however,  to  repeat  what  is  all-important  to  the  present 
inquiry,  that  these  Ancient  Peruvians  were  the  progenitors  of 
the  existing  Aymara  tribes  of  Peru,  while  these  last  are  iden- 
tified in  every  particular  with  the  people  of  the  great  Inca 
race.  All  the  monuments  which  these  various  nations  have 
left  behind  them,  over  a  space  of  three  thousand  miles,  go 
also  to  prove  a  common  origin,  because, notwithstanding  some 
minor  differences,  certain  leading  features  pervade  and  charac- 
terize them  all. 

Whether  the  hive  of  the  civilized  nations  was,  as  some 
suppose,  in  the  fabled  region  of  Aztlan  in  the  north,  or  whe. 
ther,  asthelearned  Cabrera  has  endeavored  to  shew,  their  na- 
tive seats  were  in  Chiapas  and  Guatimala,  we  may  not  stop 
to  inquire  ;  but  to  them,  and  to  them  alone,  we  trace  the 
monolithic  gateways  of  Peru,  the  sculptures  of  Bogota,  the 
ruined  temples  and  pyramids  of  Mexico  and  the  mounds  and 
fortifications  of  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Such  was  the  Toltecan  Family  ;  and  it  will  now  be  in- 
quired how  it  happens  that  so  great  a  disparity  should  have 
existed  in  the  intellectual  character  of  the  American  nations, 
if  they  are  all  derived  from  a  common  stock,  or  in  other 
words  belong  to  the  same  race  ?  How  are  we  to  reconcile 
the  civilization  of  the  one  with  the  barbarism  of  the  other  ? 
It  is  this  question  which  has  so  much  puzzled  the  philosophers 
of  the  past  three  centuries,  and  led  them,  in  the  face  of  facts, 
to  insist  on  a  plurality  of  races,    We  grant  the  seeming 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


23 


the  Indian  with  no  additional  means  of  contending  with  the 
watery  element ;  and  his  log  canoe  and  boat  of  birch  bark, 
are  precisely  the  same  as  at  the  landing  of  Columbus. 

5.  Manner  of  Interment.  Veneration  for  the  dead  is  a 
sentiment  natural  to  man,  whether  civilized  or  savage:  but 
the  manner  of  expressing  it,  and  of  performing  the  rites  of  se- 
pulture, differ  widely  in  different  nations.  No  offence  excites 
greater  exasperation  in  the  breast  of  the  Indian  than  the  vio- 
lation of  the  graves  of  his  people  ;  and  he  has  even  been 
known  to  disinter  the  bones  of  his  ancestors,  and  bear  them 
with  him  to  a  great  distance,  when  circumstances  have  com- 
pelled him  to  make  a  permanent  change  of  residence. 

But  the  manner  of  inhumation  is  so  different  from  that 
practised  by  the  rest  of  mankind,  and  at  the  same  time  so  pre- 
valent among  the  American  nations,  as  to  constitute  another 
means  of  identifying  them  as  parts  of  a  single  and  peculiar 
race.  This  practice  consists  in  burying  the  dead  in  the  sit- 
ting posture;  the  legs  being  flexed  against  the  abdomen,  the 
arms  also  bent,  and  the  chin  supported  on  the  palms  of  the 
hands.  The  natives  of  Patagonia,  Brazil,  and  Guayana ;  the 
insular  and  other  Charibs,  the  Florida  tribes,  the  great  chain 
of  Lenape  nations,  the  inhabitants  of  both  sides  of  the  Rocky 
mountains,  and  those  also  of  Canada  and  the  vast  Northwest- 
ern region,  all  conform,  with  occasional  exceptions,  to  this 
conventional  rite.  So  also  with  the  demi-civilized  commu- 
nities from  the  most  distant  epochs ;  for  the  ancient  Peru- 
vians, to  whom  we  have  already  so  frequently  referred,  pos 
sessed  this  singular  usage,  as  is  verified  by  their  numberless 
remains  in  the  sepulchres  of  Titicaca.  They  did  not,  how- 
ever, bury  their  dead,  but  placed  them  on  the  floors  of  their 
tombs,  seated,  and  sewed  up  in  sacks.  The  later  Peruvians 
of  the  Inca  race  followed  the  same  custom,  sometimes  inhum- 
ing the  body,  at  others  placing  it  in  a  tower  above  ground. 
Garcilaso  de  la  Vega  informs  us,  that  in  the  year  1560  he  saw 
five  embalmed  bodies  of  the  royal  family,  all  of  whom  were 
seated  in  the  Indian  manner,  with  their  hands  crossed  upon 


24  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

the  breast,  and  their  heads  bent  forward.  So  also  the  Mexi- 
cans from  the  most  ancient  time  had  adopted  the  same  usage, 
which  was  equally  the  privilege  of  the  king  and  his  people. 
The  most  remarkable  exception  to  the  practice  in  question, 
is  that  in  which  the  body  is  dissected  before  interment,  the 
bones  alone  being  deposited  in  the  earth.  This  extraordinary 
rite  has  prevailed  among  various  tribes  from  the  southern  to  the 
northern  extremity  of  their  range,  in  Patagonia,  Brazil,  Flo- 
rida, and  Missouri,  and  indeed  in  many  intervening  localities; 
but  even  in  these  instances,  the  bones  are  often  retained  in 
their  relative  position  by  preserving  the  ligaments,  and  then 
interred  in  the  attitude  of  a  person  seated.  An  example 
among  very  many  others  is  recorded  by  the  Baron  Humboldt, 
in  his  visit  to  a  cavern-cemetery  of  the  Atures  Indians,  at  the 
sources  of  the  Orinoco  ;  wherein  he  found  hundreds  of  skele- 
tons preserved  each  in  a  separate  basket,  the  bones  being  held 
together  by  their  natural  connexions,  and  the  whole  diposed 
in  the  conventional  posture  of  which  we  are  speaking. 

I  am  well  aware  that  this  practice  has  been  noticed  by 
some  navigators  among  the  Polynesian  islands  ;the  instances, 
however,  appear  so  few  as  rather  to  form  exceptions  to  the 
rule,  like  those  of  the  Nassamones  of  northern  Africa  :  but  I 
have  sought  for  it  in  vain  among  the  continental  Asiatics,  who, 
if  they  ever  possessed  it,  would  have  yet  preserved  it  among 
some  at  least  of  their  numberless  tribes. 

After  this,  rapid  view  of  the  principal  leading  characteris- 
tics of  the  American  race,  let  us  now  briefly  inquire  whether 
they  denote  an  exotic  origin ;  or  whether  there  is  not  internal 
evidence  that  this  race  is  as  strictly  aboriginal  to  America  as 
the  Mongolian  is  to  Asia,  or  the  Negro  to  Africa. 

And  first,  we  turn  to  the  Mongolian  race,  which  by  a 
somewhat  general  consent  is  admitted  to  include  the  Polar 
nations,  and  among  them  the  Eskimaux  of  our  continent.  It 
is  a  very  prevalent  opinion  that  the  latter  people,  who  obvi- 
ously belong  to  the  Polar  family  of  Asia,  pass  insensibly  into 
the  American  race,  and  thus  form  the  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  two.  But  without  repeating  what  has  already  been 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


35 


We  shall  lastly  notice  an  imaginative  classification  which 
separates  the  aborigines  of  America  into  four  species  of  menf 
exclusive  of  the  Eskimaux.  This  curious  but  unphilosophi- 
cal  hypothesis  has  been  advanced  by  M.  Bory  de  St.  Vincent, 
a  French  naturalist  of  distinction,  who  considers  the  civilized 
nations  to  be  cognate  with  the  Malays,  and  designates  them 
by  the  collective  name  of  the  Neptunian  species  ;  while  to 
his  three  remaining  species, — the  Columbian,  the  American, 
and  the  Patagonian,  he  assigns  certain  vague  geographical 
limits,  without  establishing  any  distinctive  characteristics  of 
the  people  themselves.  The  system  is  so  devoid  of  founda- 
tion in  nature,  so  fanciful  in  all  its  details,  as  hardly  to  merit 
a  serious  analysis;  and  we  have  introduced  it  on  the  present 
occasion  to  illustrate  the  extravagance,  and  the  poverty,  of 
some  of  the  hypotheses  which  have  been  resorted  to  in  expla- 
nation of  the  problem  before  us. 

Once  for  all  I  repeat  my  conviction,  that  the  study  of  phy- 
sical conformation  alone  excludes  every  branch  of  the  Cau- 
casian race  from  any  obvious  participation  in  the  peopling  of 
this  continent.  If  the  Egyptians,*  Hindoos,  Phenicians,  or 
Gauls  have  ever,  by  accident  or  design,  planted  colonies  in 
America,  these  must  have  been,  sooner  or  later,  dispersed  and 
lost  in  the  waves  of  a  vast  indigenous  population.  Such  we 
know  to  have  been  the  fact  with  the  Northmen,  whose  re- 
peated, though  very  partial,  settlements  in  the  present  New 
England  States,  from  the  tenth  to  the  thirteenth  centuries, 
are  now  matter  of  history  ;  yet,  in  the  country  itself,  they 
have  not  left  a  single  indisputable  trace  of  their  sojourn. 

In  fine,  our  own  conclusion,  long  ago  deduced  from  a  pa- 
tient examination  of  the  facts  thus  briefly  and  inadequately 
stated,  is,  that  the  American  race  is  essentially  separate  and 
peculiar,  whether  we  regard  it  in  its  physical,  its  moral,  or  its 
intellectual  relations.  To  us  there  are  no  direct  or  obvious 
links  between  the  people  of  the  old  world  and  the  new ;  for 
even  admitting  the  seeming  analogies  to  which  we  have  al- 

*  See  Appendix  No.  4. 


36 


DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 


luded,  these  are  so  few  in  number  and  evidently  so  casual  as 
not  to  invalidate  the  main  position :  and  even  should  it  be 
hereafter  shown,  that  the  arts,  sciences,  and  religion  of  Ame- 
rica can  be  traced  to  an  exotic  source,  I  maintain  that  the 
organic  characters  of  the  people  themselves,  through  all  their 
endless  ramifications  of  tribes  and  nations,  prove  them  to  be- 
long to  one  and  the  same  race,  and  that  this  race  is  distinct 
from  all  others. 

This  idea  may,  at  first  view,  seem  incompatible  with  the 
history  of  man,  as  recorded  in  the  Sacred  Writings.  Such, 
however,  is  not  the  fact.  Where  others  can  see  nothing  but 
chance,  we  can  perceive  a  wise  and  obvious  design,  displayed 
in  the  original  adaptation  of  the  several  races  of  men  to  those 
varied  circumstances  of  climate  and  locality  which,  while 
congenial  to  the  one,  are  destructive  to  the  other.  The  evi- 
dences of  history  and  6the  Egyptian  monuments  go  to  prove 
that  these  races  were  as  distinctly  stamped  three  thousand 
five  hundred  years  ago  as  they  are  now ;  and,  in  fact, 
that  they  are  coeval  with  the  primitive  dispersion  of  our 
specie?. 


APPENDIX 


No.  1. 


On  the  6th  of  July,  1841, 1  made  the  following  communication 
\  to  the  Academy  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia;  and  now 

extract  it  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  that  date : 

I  submit  to  the  inspection  of  the  members  eight  adult  skulls  of  the 
ancient  Mexican  race,  for  six  of  which  I  am  indebted  to  Don  J. 
Gomez  de  la  Cortina,  and  for  the  other  two  to  Dr.  John  P.  Ma- 
cartney of  the  city  of  Mexico.  All  these  crania  have  been  re- 
ceived since  the  publication  of  my  Crania  Americana. 

The  skulls  are  supposed  to  be  of  the  following  nations : 

1.  Otomies  ? — Four  in  number,  with  the  high  vertex,  flat  occiput, 
great  lateral  diameter,  and  broad  face,  characteristic  of  the 
American  race.  The  Otomies  preceded  the  Toltecas,  and  were 
the  least  cultivated  of  the  demi-civilized  nations  of  Anahuac. 
The  largest  of  these  heads  gives  92  cubic  inches  of  internal 
capacity  ;  the  smallest,  that  of  a  female,  only  67. 

4 


38  DISTINCTIVE   CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

2.  Chechemecan  ? — A  single  skull,  of  83  cubic  inches  of  internal 
capacity.  This  nation  followed  the  Toltecas  in  the  possession  of 
Mexico  in  the  11th  century  of  our  era.  They  were  nomades 
and  hunters,  but  rapidly  acquired  the  arts  and  civilization  of  their 
predecessors. 

3.  Tlascalan? — A  single  cranium.  These  people  formed  one  of 
the  seven  tribes  who  established  themselves  in  Mexico  during 
the  Chechemecan  monarchy,  and  are  renowned  in  history  for 
their  warlike  exploits.  They  are  well  known  to  have  rendered 
Cortez  essential  aid  in  taking  the  city  of  Mexico.  This  skull 
gives  an  internal  capacity  of  84  cubic  inches,  and  like  the  others 
of  this  series,  is  remarkable  for  its  diameter  between  the  pa- 
rietal bones. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  average  internal  capacity  of 
these  six  authentic  Mexican  skulls,  is  precisely  what  I  have  ac- 
corded to  these  people  in  my  Crania  Americana,  viz., seventy-nine 
cubic  inches.  The  mean  of  the  facial  angle  also  accords  with  my 
previous  measurements,  and  gives  75°. 

All  these  heads  were  obtained  from  tumuli  or  mounds,  within 
the  territories  of  the  nations  whose  names  they  bear,  so  as  to 
leave  no  doubt  in  the  mind  of  the  distinguished  gentleman  from 
whom  I  received  them,  of  their  having  pertained  to  individuals  of 
those  nations. 

The  two  remaining  crania  are  supposed  to  be  those  of  Aztecs, 
who  also  belonged  to  the  confederacy  of  the  seven  tribes,  but  were 
the  last  to  take  possession.  These  were  the  people  who  subse- 
quently obtained  the  supreme  power,  and  under  the  name  of  Az- 
tecs, or  Mexicans,  governed  the  country  at  the  epoch  of  the 
Spanish  invasion,  a.  d.  1521.  The  Aztecks  were  a  brave  and 
intelligent  people,  but  remarkable  for  bloody  rites,  both  in  their 
warlike  and  religious  observances.  They  were  less  cultivated 
than  the  Toltecas,  but  much  more  so  than  the  surrounding  bar- 
barous tribes  ;  and  appear,  in  fact,  to  have  been  the  connecting 
link  between  the  two.  The  largest  of  these  heads  gives  85  cubic 
inches  of  internal  capacity;  the  smallest  77;  the  medium  being 
80  cubic  inches.  The  configuration  of  these  heads  is  on  the  same 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA.  39 

model  as  the  preceding  series,  and  the  mean  facial  angle  differs 
but  a  single  degree. 

Whoever  will  be  at  the  pains  to  compare  this  series  of  skulls 
with  those  from  the  barbarous  tribes,  will,  I  think,  agree  that  the 
facts  thus  derived  from  organic  characters  corroborate  the  position 
I  have  long  maintained,  that  all  the  American  nations,  excepting 
the  polar  tribes,  are  of  one  race  and  one  species,  but  of  two  great 
families,  which  resemble  each  other  in  physical  but  differ  in  in- 
tellectual character. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  Society,  (August  9,  1842,)  I 
exhibited  the  remains  of  a  human  skeleton  found  by  Mr.  J.  L. 
Stevens  in  a  vault  or  tomb  at  the  ruins  near  Ticul,  nineteen 
leagues  from  Merida,  in  Yucatan.  These  bones  have  pertained 
to  a  female,  whose  stature  has  not  exceeded  five  feet  three  inches, 
at  the  same  time  that  the  absence  of  epiphyses  and  consequent 
consolidation  of  the  bones  are  proofs  of  adult  age.  From  the 
appearance  of  the  teeth,  however,  which  are  fresh,  and  not  sen- 
sibly worn,  and  a  line  or  furrow  marking  off  the  crista  of  the 
ilium,  it  is  presumed  that  this  individual  had  not  passed  her 
twentieth  year.  The  bones  of  the  head,  which  are  still  partially 
separable  at  the  sutures,  are  admirably  characteristic  of  the  Ame- 
\  rican  Face, ,,as  seen  in  the  vertical  occiput  and  the  great  inter-pa- 

rietal diameter,  which  measures  five  inches  and  eight-tenths. 
The  head  is  of  full  size,  in  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  skeleton, 
of  which  the  bones  are  of  very  delicate  proportions,  especially 
those  of  the  feet  and  hands.  An  interesting  feature  of  this 
skeleton  is,  the  occurrence  of  a  large  spongy  node  on  the  upper 
and  inner  surface  of  the  left  tibia,  on  which  it  extends  about  two 
inches  in  length,  an  inch  in  breadth,  and  half  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness. Dr.  Bridges  having  subjected  some  fragments  of  these 
bones  to  the  usual  chemical  tests,  found  them  in  a  very  great 
degree  deprived  of  animal  matter — an  additional  evidence  of  their 
antiquity.* 


*  See  Stephens;  Incidents  of  Travel  in  Yucatan,  vol.  i.,  p.  281. 


40 


DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE 


No.  2. 

REMARKS  ON  THE  ANCIENT  PERUVIANS. 

(From  the  8th  vol.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Acad,  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia.) 

In  my  work  on  American  skulls,  (Crania  Americana,)  I  have 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  heads  of  the  ancient  Peruvians 
were  naturally  very  much  elongated  ;  and  that  they  differed  in 
this  respect  from  those  of  the  Inca  Peruvians,  and  other  surround- 
ing nations  ;  and  having  given  this  opinion  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Academy  prior  to  the  publication  of  my  work,  I  take  the  present 
occasion  to  renounce  it. 

In  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  for  March,  1840,  I  have 
already,  in  a  brief  note,  adverted  to  this  change  of  opinion  ;  and 
I  now  repeat  my  matured  conclusions,  in  connection  with  posi- 
tive facts,  derived  from  the  work  of  a  distinguished  traveller  and 
naturalist,  M.  Alcide  D'Orbigny. 

This  gentleman  not  only  visited  the  elevated  table-land  of  the 
Andes,  which  was  once  inhabited  by  the  ancient  Peruvians,  but 
he  remained  a  long  time  in  that  interesting  region,  and  has  col- 
lected numerous  facts  in  relation  of  the  people  themselves. 

1.  The  descendants  of  the  ancients  Peruvians  yet  inhabit  the 
land  of  their  ancestors,  and  bear  the  name  of  Aymaras,  which 
was  probably  their  primitive  designation. 

2.  The  modern  Aymaras  resemble  the  surrounding  Quichua 
or  Peruvian  nations  in  color,  figure,  features,  expression,  shape 
of  the  head,  (which  they  have  ceased  to  mould  into  artificial 
forms,)  and  in  fact  in  every  thing  that  relates  to  physical  confor- 
mation and  social  customs.  Their  languages  differ,  but  even  here 
there  is  a  resemblance  which  proves  a  common  origin. 

3.  On  examining  the  tombs  of  the  ancient  Aymaras,  in  the 
environs  of  the  lake  Tittcaca,  M.  D'Orbigny  remarked  that  those 
which  contained  the  compressed  and  elongated  skulls,  contained 
also  a  greater  number  that  were  not  flattened ;  whence  he  infers 


ABORIGINAL  RACE   OF  AMERICA. 


41 


that  the  deformity  was  not  natural,  or  characteristic  of  the  nation, 
but  the  result  of  mechanical  compression. 

4.  It  was  also  remarked  that  those  skulls  which  were  flattened 
were  uniformly  those  of  men,  while  the  heads  of  the  women  al- 
ways retained  the  natural  shape, — the  squared  or  spheroidal  form 
which  is  characteristic  of  the  American  race,  and  especially  of  the 
Peruvians. 

5.  The  most  elongated  heads  were  found  in  the  largest  and 
finest  tombs  ;  showing-  that  the  deformity  was  a  mark  of  distinc- 
tion among  these  people. 

6.  The  researches  of  M.  D'Orbigny  confirm  the  statements 
made  at  distant  intervals  of  time  by  Pedro  de  Cieza,  Garcilaso  de 
la  Vega,  and  Mr.  Pentland,  and  prove  conclusively,  what  I  have 
never  doubted,  that  these  people  were  the  architects  of  their  own 
tombs  and  temples  ;  and  not,  as  some  suppose,  intruders^who  had 
usurped  the  civilization,  and  appropriated  the  ingenuity  of  an  an- 
tecedent and  more  intellectual  race. 

M.  D'Orbigny  found  temples  from  100  to  200  metres  in  length, 
facing  the  east,  and  ornamented  with  rows  of  angular  columns  ; 
enormous  gateways  made  of  a  single  mass  of  rock,  and  covered 
with  bas  reliefs;  colossal  statues  of  basalt;  and  large  square 
tombs,  wholly  above  ground,  and  in  such  numbers  that  they  are 
compared  to  towns  and  villages. 

My  published  observations  go  to  show  that  the  internal  capa- 
city of  the  cranium,  as  indicative  of  the  size  of  the  brain,  is  nearly 
the  same  in  the  ancient  and  modern  Peruvians,  viz.,  about 
seventy-six  cubic  inches  —  a  smallness  of  size  which  is  with- 
out a  parallel  among  existing  nations,  excepting  only  the 
Hindoos. 

M.  D'Orbigny  even  supposes  the  ancient  Peruvians  to  have 
been  the  lineal  progenitors  of  the  Inca  family;  a  question  which 
is  not  yet  decided.  Supposing  this  to  be  the  fact,  we  may  in- 
quire how  it  happens  that  the  Incas  should  have  abandoned  the 
practice  of  distorting  the  cranium  ;  especially  as  this,  among  the 
Aymaras,  was  an  aristocratic  privilege  ? 

I  was  at  first  at  a  loss  to  imagine  how  this  singular  elongation  of 
the  head  had  been  effected ;  for  when  pressure  is  applied  to  a  sphe- 

4* 


42  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

roidal  head,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  Chenouks  and  other  tribes 
of  the  Columbia  river,  the  skull  expands  laterally  in  proportion 
as  it  is  depressed  above ;  whereas,  in  these  people,  the  head  is 
narrow  from  the  face  to  the  occiput.  It  seems  probable  that  this 
conformation  was  produced  by  placing  splints  or  compresses  on 
each  side  of  the  head  from  the  cheek  bones  to  the  parietal  pro- 
tuberances, and  another  on  the  forehead,  and  confining  them  by 
rotary  bandages.  In  this  way  the  face,  in  the  process  of  growth, 
would  be  protruded  in  front,  and  the  head  elongated  backwards; 
while  the  skull,  in  all  other  directions,  could  expand  compara- 
tively little.  These  remarks  will  be  more  readily  understood  by 
reference  to  the  annexed  outlines,  which  are  taken  from  a  cast  of 
one  of  the  skulls  obtained  by  Mr.  Pentland. 


Dr.  Goddard  has  suggested  to  me  that  the  deformity  observ- 
able in  this  series  of  crania,  might  have  been  produced  by  the 
action  of  rotary  bandages  alone,  without  the  use  of  splints  or 
compresses.  I  admit  the  possibility  of  this  result  in  some  of  the 
heads,  but  think  that  in  others  there  is  satisfactory  evidence 
of  the  employment  of  the  splint  or  compress,  especially  on  the  os 
frontis. 


I 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA.  43 

I  have  in  my  possession  six  casts  of  heads  and  three  skulls  of 
these  people,  all  of  which  present  the  peculiarly  elongated  form 
in  question. 


No.  3. 

REMARKS  ON  THE  SO-CALLED  PIGMY  RACE  OF  THE 
VALLEY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

(From  the  8th  vol.  of  the  Journal  of  the  Acad,  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia.) 

It  had  long  been  contended  by  intelligent  persons,  who,  however, 
were  ignorant  of  Anatomy,  that  the  adjusted  bones  of  these  pretended 
Pigmies  never  exceeded  four  feet  and  a  half  in  length,  and  were 
often  but  three  feet,  notwithstanding  the  asserted  indications  of  adult 
age.  These  statements  made  me  desirous  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject by  means  of  a  skeleton  of  one  of  these  people,  which  I  at  length 
obtained  through  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Troost,  of  Nashville;  Dr. 
M'Call,  an  intelligent  correspondent  of  Dr.  Troost,  having  exhumed 
the  remains  from  a  "  Pigmy  cemetery"  near  the  Cumberland  Moun- 
tain, in  White  county,  Tennessee. 

"  The  colfins,"  observes  Dr.  M'Calf,  in  his  letter  addressed 
to  me,  "  are  from  18  to  24  inches  in  length,  by  IS  inches  deep, 
and  15  wide.  They  are  made  of  six  pieces  of  undressed  sandstone 
or  limestone,  in  which  the  bodies  are  placed  with  their  shoulders 
and  head  elevated  against  the  eastern  end,  and  the  knees  raised 
towards  the  face,  so  as  to  put  the  corpse  in  a  reclined  or  sitting 
posture.  The  right  arm  rested  on  an  earthen  pot,  of  about  two 
pints  in  capacity,  without  legs,  but  with  lateral  projections  for  being 
lifted.  With  these  pots,  in  some  graves,  are  found  basins  and  trays 
also  of  pipe  clay  and  comminuted  shells  mixed;  and  no  one  of  these 
repositories  is  without  cooking  utensils.  In  one  of  the  graves  was 
found  a  complete  skull,  and  an  os  femoris,  but  most  of  the  other 
bones  were  broke  in  hastily  removing  them.    This  is  said  to  be  the 


44  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE 

largest  skeleton  ever  found  at  any  of  these  burying  grounds.  It 
has  ihe  cranium  very  flat  and  broad,  with  very  projecting  front 
teeth,  and  appears  to  have  pertained  to  an  individual  not  over 
twelve  or  fourteen  years  of  age." 

The  bones  which  accompanied  the  letter  indicate  a  very  juvenile 
subject.  For  example,  many  of  the  deciduous  or  first  teeth  yet  re- 
main in  both  jaws  ;  while  the  only  teeth  of  the  permanent  set  which 
have  protruded,  are  the  first  molars  and  the  incisors,  which,  as  every 
anatomist  knows,  make  their  appearance  at  about  seven  years  of 
age.  Of  the  other  permanent  teeth,  some  have  no  part  formed  but 
the  crown,  and  all  are  completely  within  the  maxillary  bones. 
The  presence  of  the  new  incisors,  isolated  from  the  cuspidati  which 
have  not  appeared,  obviously  gave  rise  to  Dr.  M'Call's  remark  re- 
specting the  very  "  projecting  front  teeth,"  but  which,  however,  are 
perfectly  natural  in  position  and  proportion.  The  cranial  bones  are 
thin,  and  readily  separable  at  the  sutures;  nor  does  the^a*  and  broad 
configuration  of  the  cranium  differ  from  what  is  common  to  the 
aboriginal  American  race.  The  long  bones  have  their  extremities 
separated  by  epiphyses;  and  every  fact  observed  in  these  remains 
is  strictly  characteristic  of  early  childhood,  or  about  the  eighth  year 
of  life.  Even  the  recumbent  or  sitting  posture  in  which  they  are 
found,  has  been  observed  in  the  dead  bodies  of  the  American  na- 
tions from  Cape  Horn  to  Canada;  and  the  utensils  found  with  them 
are  the  same  in  form  and  composition  with  those  exhumed  from  the 
graves  of  the  common  Indians. 

These  remains  are  to  me  an  additional  and  convincing  proof  of 
what  I  have  never  doubted — viz.,  that  the  so-called  Pigmies  of  the 
western  country  were  merely  children,  who,  for  reasons  not  readily 
explained,  but  which  actuate  some  religious  communities  of  our  own 
time,  were  buried  apart  from  the  adult  people  of  their  tribe. 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


45 


No.  4. 

With  respect  to  the  Egyptians  and  Hindoos,  as  involved  in  this 
question,  I  can  speak  without  reservation.  Through  the  kindness 
of  an  accomplished  gentleman  and  scholar,  George  R.  Gliddon, 
Esq.,  late  United  States  Consul  at  Cairo,  I  have  received  one  hun- 
dred heads  of  Egyptian  mummies  from  the  tombs  of  Abydos,  Thebes 
and  Memphis,  &c;  and  I  unhesitatingly  declare,  that,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  which  have  a  mixed  character,  and  chiefly  resemble  the 
Coptic  form,  the  conformation  throughout  is  that  of  the  Caucasian 
race. 

The  following  extracts  from  my  Crania  JEgyptiaca,  just  now 
published,  appear  to  me  to  be  conclusive  on  this  point: 

"It  was  remarked  fifty  years  ago,  by  the  learned  Professor  Blu- 
menbach,  that  a  principal  requisite  for  an  inquiry  such  as  we  now 
propose,  would  be  "a  very  careful,  technical  examination  of  the 
skulls  of  mummies  hitherto  met  with,  together  with  an  accurate 
comparison  of  these  skulls  with  the  monuments."  This  is  precisely 
the  design  I  have  in  view  in  the  following  memoir,  which  I  therefore 
commence  by  an  analysis  of  the  characters  of  all  the  crania  now  in 
my  possession.  These  may  be  referred  to  two  of  the  great  races 
of  men,  the  Caucasian  and  the  Negro,  although  there  is  a  remark- 
able disparity  in  the  number  of  each.  The  Caucasian  heads  also 
vary  so  much  among  themselves  as  to  present  several  different 
types  of  this  race,  which  may,  perhaps,  be  appropriately  grouped 
under  the  following  designations  : — 

CAUCASIAN  RACE. 

1.  The  *Pelasgic  Type.  In  this  division  I  place  jthose  heads 
which  present  the  finest  conformation,  as  seen  in  the  Caucasian 
nations  of  western  Asia,  and  middle  and  southern  Europe.  The 

*  I  do  not  use  this  term  with  ethnographic  precision  ;  but  merely  to  indicate 
the  most  perfect  type  of  cranio-facial  outline. 


"  ■  • '     \  m 

46  DISTINCTIVE  CHARACTERISTICS  OP  THE 

Pelasgic  lineaments  are  familiar  to  us  in  the  beautiful  models  of 
Grecian  art,  which  are  remarkable  for  the  volume  of  the  head  in 
comparison  with  that  of  the  face,  the  large  facial  angle,  and  the 
symmetry  and  delicacy  of  the  whole  osteological  structure. 

2.  The  Semitic  Type,  as  seen  in  the  Hebrew  communities,  is 
marked  by  a  comparatively  receding  forehead,  long,  arched  and 
very  prominent  nose,  a  marked  distance  between  the  eyes,  a  low, 
heavy,  broad  and  strong  and  often  harsh  development  of  the  whole 
facial  structure. 

4.  The  Egyptian  form  differs  from  the  Pelasgic  in  having  a  nar- 
rower and  more  receding  forehead,  while  the  face  being  more  pro- 
minent, the  facial  angle  is  consequently  less.  The  nose  is  straight 
or  aquiline,  the  face  angular,  the  features  often  sharp,  and  the  hair 
uniformly  long,  soft,  and  curling.  In  this  series  of  crania  I  include 
many  of  which  the  conformation  is  not  appreciably  different  from 
that  of  the  Arab  and  Hindoo;  but  I  have  not,  as  a  rule,  attempted  to 
note  these  distinctions,  although  they  are  so  marked  as  to  have  in- 
duced me,  in  the  early  stage  of  the  investigation,  and  for  reasons 
which  will  appear  in  the  sequel,  to  group  them,  together  with  the 
proper  Egyptian  form,  under  the  provisional  name  of  Austral- 
Egyptian  crania. 

NEGRO  RACE. 

The  true  Negro  conformation  requires  no  comment ;  but  it  is 
necessary  to  observe  that  a  practised  eye  readily  detects  a  few 
heads  with  decidedly  mixed  characters,  in  which  those  of  the  Negro 
predominate.  For  these  I  propose  the  name  of  Negroid  crania  ; 
for  while  the  osteological  development  is  more  or  less  that  of  the 
Negro,  the  hair  is  long  but  sometimes  harsh,  thus  indicating  that 
combination  of  features  which  is  familiar  in  the  mulatto  grades  of 
the  present  day.  It  is  proper,  however,  to  remark  in  relation  to 
the  whole  series  of  crania,  that  while  the  greater  part  is  readily  refer- 
able to  some  one  of  the  above  subdivisions,  there  remain  a  few  other 
examples  in  which  the  Caucasian  traits  predominate,  but  are  par- 
tially blended  with  those  of  the  Negro,  which  last  modify  both  the 
structure  and  expression  of  the  head  and  face. 


ABORIGINAL  RACE  OF  AMERICA. 


47 


The  following  is  a  Tabular  View  of  the  whole  series  of  crania, 
arranged,  in  the  first  place,  according  to  their  sepulchral  localities, 
and,  in  the  second,  in  reference  to  their  national  affinities. 


Ethnographic  Table  of  one  hundred  ancient  Egyptian  Crania, 


Sepulchral  Localities. 

No. 

Egyptian. 

Pelasgic. 

Semitic. 

Mixed.jNegroid. 

Negro. 

Idiot. 

Memphis, 

26 

7 

16 

1 

1 

1 

Maahdeh, 

4 

1 

1 

2 

Abydos, 

4 

2 

1 

1 

Thebes, 

55 

30 

10 

4 

4 

5 

2 

Ombos, 

3 

3 

Philae, 

4 

2 

1 

1 

Debod, 

4 

4 

100 

49 

29 

6 

5 

8 

i 

2 

- — .  

•  a 

No.  5. 

CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  HUMAN  SPECIES. 

The  following  classification  is  a  slight  modification  of  that  pub- 
lished in  my  Crania  Americana.  The  Races  correspond  with  those 
in  Prof.  Blumenbach's  system,  which  latter  differs  but  little  from  that 
of  Bufibn.  The  subdivision  into  Families  is  based  upon  ethno- 
graphic analogies,  both  physical  and  philological. 

I.  CAUCASIAN  RACE. 
A.    The  Japetic  or  Indo-European  Branch. 

1.  The  Pelasgic  or  Caucasian  Family. 

2.  The  Germanic  Family. 

3.  The  Celtic  Family. 

4.  The  Indostanic  Family. 


4S  THE  ABORIGINAL  RACE  OP  AMERICA. 

B.  The  Semitic  or  Syro-Arabian  Branch. 

5.  The  Arabian  Family. 

6.  The  Hebrew  Family. 

C.  The  Hamitic  or  ^Egypto-Libyan  Branch. 

7.  The  Nilotic  or  Egyptian  Family. 

8.  The  Libyan  Family. 

II.  THE  MONGOLIAN  RACE. 

9.  The  Mongol-Tartar  Family, 

10.  *The  Turkish  Family. 

11.  The  Chinese  Family. 

12.  fThe  Indo-Chinese  Family. 

13.  The  Polar  Family. 

III.  THE  MALAY  RACE. 

14.  The  Malay  Family. 

15.  The  Polynesian  Family. 

IV.  THE  AMERICAN  RACE. 

16.  The  American  Family. 

17.  The  Toltecan  Family. 

V.  THE  NEGRO  RACE.j: 

18.  The  Negro  Family. 

19.  The  Caffrarian  Family. 

20.  The  Austral- African  or  Hottentot  Family. 

21.  The  Oceanic-Negro  Family. 

22.  The  Australian  Family. 

#The  Turks  are  a  mixed  family  of  the  Caucassian  and  Mongolian  races,  in 
which  the  latter  preponderates. 

f  The  Indo-Chinese  nations  may  yet  prove  to  belong  to  the  Malay  race. 
4  Called  the  Ethiopian  Race  by  Professor  Blumenbach. 


